How to improve Leicester Football Club

[Purebob]

Folks

I tire of "off with his head!" type posts, mostly because they damped the club mood without offering any constructive suggestions for improvement.

"Something must be done!" some shriek, but the shriekers have offered zero positive, detailed suggestions as to what specifically is wrong and what specifically needs to be changed in order to achieve more success.

Every system or machine is perfectly calibrated to achieve the results it gets, and no tuner worth his salt just throws out major components or parameters without seriously planning their replacements.

And so I would genuinely like to solicit proposals as to what changes should be made within Leicester Tigers, why and how.

"Sack Cockerill" and similar hysterical knee=jerk, soccer-like responses not required. If you want Cockerill replaced, say with whom and supply reasons why.

Any suggestions must accommodate the laws of rugby physics i.e.:

* The Salary Cap of £4.2m plus a marquee signing.
* The dreadful injury situation at present
* International callups.

This gives everyone their chance to explain how they would improve Tigers which can only be good for everyone.

So who's first ?:

[Isambard]

Release drawings and a timetable to demolish and replace the Crumbie stand. Include warm up facilities for the players' new dressing rooms.

[Off Piste Tiger]

Re name the terrace "The Crumbie Terrace ". Replace the scoreboard with a large TV screen. Get the non playing squad to serve beer in the bars. Every one to get behind Cockerill.

[Skin_and_Muscle]

We're not winning everything and we made a loss this year but we're consistently in the top 4 and have been one of the best performers financially. This makes it difficult to suggest what we need to do to improve.

Clubs like Bath and Irish would love to be in our situation in terms of consistency. Saracens might be top but they're financial model is unsustainable. Quins and Saints might be doing OK at the moment but it wasn't too long ago that they were relegated. Tigers are still the club who have performed best on and off the pitch in the professional era.

Here are two suggestions that might help us 'improve' and 'achieve our goals':

1. A strategic friend for Cockerill to get the best out of the academy/young players perhaps? Lewington, Morris, Ford and Forsyth are, presently, underused. Instead of bringing in older names, we could rely on the youngsters. This would have freed up money for stronger back row replacements for our recently retired players.

2. We alternate our focus between Europe and premiership. We have a variety of constraints that the French and Irish don't have - this year is a year for a French club to win Europe I think. Maybe we should turn our attention to the premiership, using the Heineken for greater experimentation with players like Bowden, Ford, Lewington, Morris, Tait etc. Next year, we can aim for a top 6 in the premiership but a greater showing in Europe. (OK, this might be a little naive or hyperbolic but English clubs need to be pragmatic about Europe). Before long, we could have a well rounded squad full of 'good' players who have all been exposed to top club-level rugby.

[chipnchase]

I have one, stop bringing in second rate foreign players and give the lads in teh academy a chance. I've heard from many sources that the current crop of academy players is the strongest in the clubs history so lets use them.

Want to save money and connect the fans with the players again then blood the youth and give thm a chance to shine!

[PM76]

I'm not in the sack Cockers club. 4 years, 6 finals, 3 trophies is a pretty good record, damaged by only getting out of the HC pool for 2 of the 4 years however.

I do think he needs a new backs/ attack coach as this is where the problems lie. Gibson, Mauger or Murphy for me. RC is being dragged down by his own right hand man, he is an excellent forwards coach and good DOR. Cockers and MOC deserve until the end of the season and unless things improve I think they will go. I think the board want the prem this year, three years without a premiership title is not acceptable, the only thing that will spare them if this doesn't happen is a good HC run, to the semis at least but this is very unlikely especially given the pool of death factor. If only Tigers had been selected when Quins were in the pool draw!!!

[bluntiger]

I have one, stop bringing in second rate foreign players and give the lads in teh academy a chance. I've heard from many sources that the current crop of academy players is the strongest in the clubs history so lets use them.

Want to save money and connect the fans with the players again then blood the youth and give thm a chance to shine!

I agree that we need to give the academy kids more chances to breakthrough and not just 'A' league games or LV games. We are desperate for a '7' and yet we let Matt Everard leave last year. Callum Green leaves and we sign Kitchener.

And we need to rotate the squad. We played Allen/Manu for the last two seasons in midfield so 36 leaves. Why not give them all gametime and rotate? Same with Ford. Why hasn't he even started one game this season is beyond me. Rotation works, it keeps players on their toes, give all of them gametime and time in the shop window, and more importantly, it keeps them fit. It has certainly worked for Cole and Castro.

[tigerburnie]

I think the problem is that some players are just not firing on all cylinders,you can coach and practice as much as you like,but if the players don't/can't pass,catch or tackle then the player must hold his hand up and put it right.We seem to be very tight and making basic mistakes that a seasoned pro should be able to do in his sleep,we seem to be trying to hard

[Tigerbeat]

I agree that players need to be given their chances but only when they are ready.
IF Cockers givesn the acacdemy players game time in the League games and Tigers lose, will everyone because they have performed, given their best and come up short.
The gulf between the academy and Premiership is huge and they need to be nurtured into the First Team squad.
Harrison has been a bit unfortunate in that Cockers has been forced to give him all this game time due to the injuries.

With regards to "Second rate" players, all good players start from somewhere. Tigers have a good track record of bringing them through to international standard.....Kayser, Dupuy, Cole, Youngs, Castro, Ayerza, Manu, to name a few

[Southernsoftie]

How to improve the club?

I am quite certain that supporters at most clubs would swap our record in a heartbeat. It seems to be worth reminding everyone that actually Tigers are an awesome club with a tremendous record in domestic and European competitions.

Having said that, I certainly wouldn't say that we should be satisfied with the achievements thus far this season, the record in Europe over the last 10 years and the results in the last 8 premiership finals is also sub optimal. At the same time even the most irrational supporter can't expect the club to win every game, every competition and score a tbp every time we tee it up.

So, given how strong the club is, financially as well as performance wise. The improvements should be from the British Cycling school of "incremental gains".

No need to sack the coaches but changing the status quo and mixing things up would be a good thing.

The problems as I see them and the solutions

Limited attacking options-Hire a top class attack coach. I'm not sure of MOC's job description, Head coach?, so an attack coach can report to him, no problem with noses out of joint. Don't take Darryl Gibson just because he is available. Mount a serious search (just like the RFU didn't) for a world class coach. Interview all of them see who has the best ideas. Austin Healey, Darryl Gibson, Aaron Mauger, Brian Ashton...I don't care just get the best one you can afford and attract.

Poor recruitment-We need a big squad because we lose a lot of players to England and other international squads. Under the cap we can't afford to pay them all top dollar but players will come for the chance to win silverware so they are cheaper for us than they are for Gloucester for example. However what is the point of signing Pat Phibbs or Matt Cornwell just to play a bit of A league? Sure every now and again we uncover a gem but we have lots of players on the books who everyone knows are never going to be good enough to compete, if needed, at the sharp end of the season. Sign fewer and better and in extremis use the academy and work around the weakness.

Innate conservatism of the coaches-10 man rugby has gone the way of the dinosaur. Even when we were on the run of tbp wins last season, it was still with a very conservative game plan. Perhaps not 10 man but perhaps 11 or 12! Further, look at the way Canterbury won the ITM Cup, lots of width and if the offload is on they go for it much like Quins. Contrast that with the regime at Leicester where anyone throwing an offload leaves the player concerned wide open to criticism from the coaches if it doesn't stick. Get the board to tell the coaches that they are expected to develop a wider attacking repertoire.

So many good things about Tigers. A few changes could make a big difference.

[TigerLad]

I have one, stop bringing in second rate foreign players and give the lads in teh academy a chance. I've heard from many sources that the current crop of academy players is the strongest in the clubs history so lets use them.

Want to save money and connect the fans with the players again then blood the youth and give thm a chance to shine!

I agree that we need to give the academy kids more chances to breakthrough and not just 'A' league games or LV games. We are desperate for a '7' and yet we let Matt Everard leave last year. Callum Green leaves and we sign Kitchener.

And we need to rotate the squad. We played Allen/Manu for the last two seasons in midfield so 36 leaves. Why not give them all gametime and rotate? Same with Ford. Why hasn't he even started one game this season is beyond me. Rotation works, it keeps players on their toes, give all of them gametime and time in the shop window, and more importantly, it keeps them fit. It has certainly worked for Cole and Castro.

Everard was let go because we had Woods, Newby and Moody. We didn't need him at that point but you cant blame the coaches for Newby and Woods both retiring.

[Purebob]

Reagarding an attack coach, what about MoC ? He presided over the most tries being scored in the prem 2 seasons running. Which backs coach has a better record ? [/Devil's Advocate]

[Hull Fan]

Reagarding an attack coach, what about MoC ? He presided over the most tries being scored in the prem 2 seasons running. Which backs coach has a better record ? [/Devil's Advocate]

How many tries came against the top 4-5 teams?
I think we bully lesser teams and struggle (relatively) against the better teams. (Quins, Sarries, Saints and the European top teams)

[drc_007]

Everard was let go because we had Woods, Newby and Moody. We didn't need him at that point but you cant blame the coaches for Newby and Woods both retiring.

Both retired very close to the start of the season, I find it hard to believe that the medical reports did not highlight considerable risk. It certainly looks like someone took their eye off the ball but I don't know if it was the coaches.

[Purebob]

How many tries came against the top 4-5 teams?

After a quick grope through the prem stats website:

8 against Quins
6 against Sarries
13 against Saints
8 against Glaws

Who else do you count as top 5 ?